The Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t exactly been playing the best brand of baseball in the last few weeks.
The Pittsburgh Pirates lost two of three this past weekend in interleague play against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and are 3-7 in their last ten games.
The Pirates (30-26) have lost a ton of ground in the National League Central race due to their struggles, now sitting 9.5 games behind the first place Chicago Cubs, who are 8-2 in their last ten games. The St Louis Cardinals, who are 6-4 in their last ten contests, have also gained ground on the Pirates, sitting a half game behind them for second place in the division.
The Pirates play six of their next seven games at home, beginning tonight as they take on the New York Mets in game one of a three game series at PNC Park. Six of the Pirates next ten games happen to be against the Mets, who the Bucs also play in a three game series at Citi Field from June 14-16. As with any series, this three game set against New York has plenty of intriguing matchups that fans are not going to want to miss.
3.) Jon Niese vs Former team
In game one of the three game series, the Pirates send Jon Niese to the mound as he faces the Mets for the first time in his career. This is primarily because Niese spent eight of his nine major league seasons playing in New York before the Mets shipped him to Pittsburgh in a trade this past December.
The Mets have a very deep pitching staff that includes Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Bartolo Colon. Figuring that Niese wouldn’t fit into the mix, he was shipped to the Pirates, a team that Niese has seemed to fit in well with, especially lately.
After a less than stellar start in the month of April, Niese has improved drastically in the month of May and June. Niese has especially been good in his last five starts, compiling a 2-1 record with a 2.64 ERA in that span.
The Mets are 28th in Major League Baseball in team batting average (.231), however, they are third in baseball in home runs (76). Niese is tied for first on the Pirates when it comes to home runs allowed (12), but the good news is that he has only allowed two home runs in his last four starts.
As long as Niese is able to continue his recent stretch of effective outings and keep the ball in the ballpark, there is no reason to think that Niese won’t have a stellar reunion with his former squad.
2.) Josh Harrison vs Steven Matz
This season, Mets left hander Steven Matz has simply been outstanding. He may get overshadowed by the likes of deGrom, Harvey and Syndergaard, but the young lefty, who has only made 15 starts in his big league career, has been just as effective as the trio of right handers.
This season, Matz is 7-1 with a 2.60 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 55.1 innings pitched. Matz, whose lone loss this season is the only one of his career, was especially stellar in the month of May in which he went 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA in five starts.
Tonight, Matz makes his first career start against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite the club’s recent struggles, they still remain one of the best offensive teams in baseball, hitting .277 as a team and ranking second in the majors in that category.
One player in particular that could find himself at an advantage when going up against Matz is Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison.
Harrison has had quite the season in his first year as the everyday starting second baseman, hitting .316 with two home runs and 27 RBI in 52 games. He has also hit well against left handed pitching, both in his career and throughout 2016. Harrison, who is a career .290 hitter against left handed pitching, is hitting .341 with one home run and five RBI’s against southpaws this season. His .341 average against lefties ranks second on the Pittsburgh Pirates team, trailing only David Freese, who is hitting .368.
Matz finds himself with a tough challenge tonight as he experiences for the very first time in his career what the Pittsburgh Pirates offense has to offer. However, the Pirates offense also has the challenge of trying to beat a guy that doesn’t exactly lose very often. With the tough lefty on the hill, expect Harrison to provide a couple of must see at-bats that could lean in either players favor.
1.) Pittsburgh Pirates fans vs Neil Walker Return
In the offseason deal that landed Jon Niese in Pittsburgh, the Pirates sent beloved second baseman, and Pittsburgh native, Neil Walker to the Mets in exchange for the left hander. This was a deal that provided plenty of talk around the city of Pittsburgh surrounding topics such as the Pirates inability to sign Walker to a long term deal and whether or not Niese was a sufficient return for the star second baseman.
After spending the first seven seasons of his major league career playing for his hometown team, Walker has had immediate success playing in the big apple. This season, Walker is hitting .279 with 13 home runs and 25 RBI’s in 53 games. Walker, who hit 16 home runs last season, is already three home runs shy of that mark and its only the month of May. After a 2015 season in which he hit 32 doubles, Walker has struggled to hit for extra bases in his first year as a Met. Aside from his home runs, Walker has compiled only four doubles in 190 at-bats this season.
As Walker makes his return to Pittsburgh for the first time since the offseason trade, the reaction of the PNC Park faithful will be highly anticipated. There are bound to be fans with mixed emotions when Walker takes the field in blue and orange rather than black and gold. There will be fans who will cheer and clap for a player who helped bring winning baseball back to the city of Pittsburgh and there will be others who will likely boo a former player, who is now playing for a National League foe.
All in all, it will be exciting and intriguing to see Walker back in his hometown as he faces off against the Pittsburgh Pirates in front of the hometown crowd for the first time in his career.
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